, 1887-12-15
ART OF CLOTHES CUTTING.
Schools Where the TaIIors' Trade Ii
Taught-Making "Good Fits"

SCHOOLS Where the Tailors' Trade Ii
Taught-SIaking "Good Fits"
'"These schools are not very well at
tended now, but If you were to go to them
in the summer months, when the tailor
business is in its vacation, SO to speak,
you would find scores and scores of young
men busy with measures and shears prac-
ticing the fine art of cutting clothes that
will fit. 1t is a beautiful and enhancing
study" sal the cutter, with q proud con-
seriousness of the worth Of his calling,
"and it is one that everybody cannot
master in its perfection any more than
every one can become n great painter, or
n great singer, or n great statesman. 1t
takes time and genius to make you a good
cutter"
How much timer" the reporter asked.
''Tha depends on the natural gifts of
the pupil. Nobody can learn 1t in much
less than three months, however, and
neither of the tailor colleges will give less
than n quarters tuition. The pupil is
first taught to draft out patterns for
clothes with chalk and n wooden measure
from the measurement memoranda given
by the professor. When he has got SO
that these patterns will produce q gar
ment that will fit something besides q
lamp post or n pump he is allowed to try
his hand on n live customer. If he makes
errors the errors nre corrected by the pro-
lessor, and he tries again, until in a few
weeks, more or less, provided of course
that he is gifted with the natural genius
that can alone produce n perfect fit, he is
able to claim his diploma and start out
into the wide world TO lead n triumphant
career in the beneflcent work Of clothing
mankind so that the grace INT manly
beauty of the race can be fully developed.
Ready made clothes are always made
on even figure measurements-that is to
say, n Goa is 80 or SO or 40, or some even
figure in chest measurement, and the
waist measurements of the Trousers are
arranged on the same scale. 1t doesn't
pay to have odd figures, because the de-
mand for them IS comparatively inconsid-
cradle. If you should put on a ready
made garment and find that it was just a
trifie too large or too small around the
chest or waist you would find that the
garment had been made so that the alter
alton could be quickly made for you.
Grading is simply making a allowance
for alteration. It's n clever trade knack
and invaluable in the great ready made
clothing establishments
"There is n common belief that there is
n secret trick of the trade in cutting for
custom trade. Have you any objection to
giving that secret away2r
mot in the least Cutter Drury re-
piled, with n laugh. ''The so called trick
Of the trade is merely the knack of saving
material by arranging the pattern on the
cloth so that the least possible quantity of
the material will be used in making the
garment. This is something by which
the customer loses nothing, and the tailor
saves n good deal. 1t simply proves the
superior art of the cutter. An unsklllful
tailor, for example, will waste n good e.
of cloth by the clumsy arrangement of
the pattern. On the other hand, n man
who knows his business thoroughly can
crowd the pattern, as we say in techni-
cal lingo, into small space, and thus save
unnecessary waste without marring the.
garment or producing a misft. That's
all the secret there is to it. 1t isn't much,
as you see. 1t all lies in understanding
what you're about, IN that, / believe, is
the secret of success in all the learned
professions. New York Sun.